Hard Times Cafe — Restaurant in Virginia

Been here a few times. Food is usually pretty good. Service, not so much, depending on who you get. Hit or miss. The wings are very good. Frito chili pie is yummy. The fried tots- yum! The onion rings suck!! Or at least mine did. They tasted like flour & looked like someone threw them against the wall. Seriously, not one whole ring. They looked old & mangled. The worst part? our server never came back once to check on us! Not once, until we were done eating. Then she appears & says "how are you doing & are you still working on those?" Pointing to the rings I had stuck on a separate plate. I said "We are done, & I'm not eating those. They are terrible." She said nothing, just started clearing plates & asks if we want dessert. We said no & she came back with the check. We did want more drinks but she never asked & took forever coming back so, her loss. The check included a .75 upcharge for onion rings. I told the manager we were never told there was an upcharge & I didn't eat them as they were awful. I told him had our server ever come back I would've exchanged them for a salad. His solution: took off the .75. WOW! I'm impressed! Seriously? He couldn't have taken off $5. or given us a coupon or a free drink? We went out back & played pool & got drinks after. We spent over $100 there. Would it have killed him to give us a little off for the crappy service & my lack of a side with my meal? NOT impressed!! HARD TIMES; here's a tip. Go to Applebees. Watch the service they provide. Then copy!! Make your customers happy. They will be back if they are happy. We are loyal customers when we like a place. Poor service. Poor management. The kicker: I saw someone get a plate of onion rings in the back that looked great. Fresh, golden, all together. Looked great. I guess I got some old ones sitting around forever that were all smashed up. Ridiculous! We did have a good time drinking & playing pool & met some interesting people. It is VERY smoky there & that kinda sucks for us non-smokers. But it's a bar! We may go back to play pool & have drinks but I don't think I'll be dining there if I want a good meal or service. The ribs I got were pretty good & the wings were very good. So for bar food & hanging out, it's fine. We did have a good time. If you want a sit down meal, where you don't have to hunt down your server for service, go elsewhere. Like Applebees, Cheesecake Factory, etc. where they take customer service seriously!! Not a smart move Hard...

My family has been a customer of Hard Times Cafe since the Texas Chili food truck was on F Street in Washington DC in the 1950s and my Dad drove there. We followed them when it moved to Arlington. It appears to have fallen on hard times. Saturday, 5:30 PM they only had one server scheduled for the dinner crowd. He was overwhelmed by having to wait on 8 tables. Predictability he wasn't up to the task. It took 15 minutes before he came with menus. I told him that we knew what we wanted. Since several tables were already waiting for their orders he said that he would be right back. After 10 minutes i told him we were leaving so he told the cashier to take care of the other tables. It was 15 more minutes later and our order was brought to us. The quality was still up to what we expected. But the portions were not, including the cornbread. My chili mac was only warm as was my wife's grilled chicken on her salad appeared to be precooked and was as cold as the salad. I had also ordered a take out order and asked for it to be brought with our meal. It was not. When the bill was brought i asked where it was. I told a manager that i was not happy, he listened and offered us a drink while we waited. When he returned i told him about our history with Hard Tmes and also that we were very disappointed. He apologized and said that he didn't schedule enough help and was waiting for more to come help. We will come back but only to call...

If you're in the market for a greasy, American restaurant, this is far and away one of the best places to go in Springfield. It looks pretty unassuming and, dare I say, gross from all outward appearances. It's tucked away in an older shopping center and just looks like the kind of place that would give you food poisoning, but I've never had an issue here.

On the contrary, my experiences have always been great. The staff is very friendly, waiters are on top of everything, the food is reasonably priced and you get a lot of it. I'd definitely recommend getting a meal with their chili. Their Cincinnati chili is delicious, but they have several other options which are wonderful as well.

I typically get a chili dog (I know, I know), but it's seriously pretty good. However you can also get burgers, salads, chicken and pretty much any American food you can think of. I'd also highly recommend you try their fried pickle appitizers

I've gone here at prime lunch hours and dinner hours and have always been seated and served quickly.

My only downside is the cleanliness of the restaurant. The chairs and tables always feel sticky which always bothers me, but other than that, it's good food and a...